studied social sciences at the University of Osnabruck, where he also earned his doctorate. He was active as a radio and television journalist in Saarbrucken, Hamburg, and Hanover, and founded the PR agency Osterheider & Meier in Osnabruck in 1991.
Starting in 1996 he set up the communication and communications management courses of studies at the Lingen campus of the Osnabruck University of Applied Sciences, and initially taught there as adjunct professor, then as assistant professor for communications management.
Since 2001 he has held an honorary professorship for communications consulting at the Osnabruck University of Applied Sciences. From 2000 to 2007 Osterheider was chairman of the consultants firm KONOS AG in Osnabruck, subsequently, until 2009, consultant to the chairman of the board of directors of the RWE AG, Essen, with the focus areas communications and change management.
Since 2010 Osterheider has been a member of the executive board and labor director of the Georgsmarienhütte GmbH.
